One of the blogs I read is written by a woman in Australia. For a while now she’s been talking about the water shortages, today she didn’t have water when she tried to make her morning tea. You can read the article here.
I am an advocate of not using resources just because you have them. I grew up in South America and we didn’t get water all the time, we built a huge cistern and saved rain water for all of our water usage.

In our part of Ohio, we have plenty of water and have never had problems with shortages. I’m sure sometime in the future it will happen, but for the moment we have plenty. It always amazes me that people consume so thoughtlessly until there is a problem. We Americans probably won’t do much to curtail our water usage until we’re beyond the point of no return. I always cringe when I see sprinklers on in a rainstorm, or water from a sprinkler system running down into the storm drain. Thoughtless consumption is the American way!
What have I done personally to use less water? We just installed a rain barrel system that can hold 400 gallons of water, this will be used for gardening & car washing (more photos and info on this project to come). We also save gray water to use for gardening. I have also planted mostly drought resistant plants that do not need watering, and I let my yard get brown & crispy in the summer when it’s hot & dry.
So what are you doing to save water?

No water was wasted for the photos in this post, the glass of water was finished by yours truly and the bowl of water was used on my zucchini.

Share this:

7 Comments to “Thirsty?”

[…] buy items with less packaging and by recycling and composting much of our waste. We also built a rain barrel system to collect rain water for our outdoor water used. We were able to reduce our city water usage in […]

Reply to Here’s to a Healthier 2009 for the Planet at Chiot’s Run's comment

what a great system…I’m in the process of designing mine for the garden and chickens. We live in the Pacific Northwest where water is never in shortage but I figured why should I waste all the great rain water? Besides it will give our well a break!

I found you on flickr while seeking out these food grade barrels. I’ve been digging so deep for these barrels. But I can’t find them for a reasonable price. You stated you only paid $10each for yours. Where the heck did you score those at?
Thank you

Support Chiot’s Run

We keep our blogs ad-free, not wanting to sell YOU (our readers and listeners) out. We believe in ‘Value for Value’, if you get some value from something we produce, consider giving some value in return through a monthly subscription.

Or make a one-time donation. Attach a note to any donation over $50 and we will read it on the podcast.

Also Find Me At

Reading & Watching

Resources

Shop through these links and I get a few cents each time. It's not much, but it allows me to buy a new cookbook or new gardening book every couple months. I appreciate your support!

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but just recently moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine.